Delirium
by CUtopia
Summary: Daydreams were her getaway, but as she grew up, she found that they weren't enough anymore to shield her from the darkness. She wanted to leave and travel to a better place where dreams came true and meadows were too wide for her to see their end.


Entry for Charms at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

 **Task:** Write about someone who just won't wake up.

Entry for the Chocolate Frog Card Club at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

(Gold) Unicorn; **Challenge:** Incorporate a Unicorn into your story

Entry for the Gringotts Prompt Bank

Various Prompts: Charmed

(word) Tea

(word) Miracle

(word) Candle

Phantom of the Opera Prompts

(action) dancing

(emotion) bliss

Jane Austen Prompts – Pride and Prejudice

(place) the countryside

(action) walking

(weather) stormy

(emotion) giddy

(item) a letter

(personality type) innocence

Jane Austen Prompts – Persuasion

(location) by the sea

(location) on a boat

(emotion) joy

(weather) rain

Jane Austen Prompts – Mansfield Park

(action) horseback riding

(item) a pen/quill

Jane Austen Prompts – Sense and Sensibility

(action) running in the rain

(action) picking wild flowers

(action) singing

Jane Austen Prompts – Emma

(emotion) worry

Crayola Colour Prompts

Periwinkle

Celestial

HP Prompts: Potions and Ingredients

Draught of the Living Death

(1820 Words)

Thanks a lot to Emily, who betaed this for me :)

* * *

 **Delirium**

* * *

 _What I left behind,  
Another night of weary dreams  
What's been left behind,  
Another time where days of late are far away  
Far away_

Epica – Delirium

* * *

For Ariana Dumbledore, the world was just too chaotic, full of violence, worrying actions and thoughts that she couldn't understand. Even in her isolation, she was more than aware of all those things as she saw them manifest in her brothers. It gave her nightmares, and all she wanted was to escape these horrible pictures.

Daydreams were her getaway, but as she grew up, she found that they weren't enough anymore to shield her from the darkness.

She wanted to leave and travel to a better place where dreams came true and meadows were too wide for her to see their end. Kneeling in front of a candle, she wished for a miracle every single evening before she went to bed, afraid of the nightmares that were waiting for her.

One day, her pleas were finally heard. Her angel in disguise was Gellert, the best friend of her brother Albus. Though he spent most of his time with Albus, Gellert also had time for Ariana: sitting in the grass next to her and drinking tea, he would listen to her repetitions of her nightmares. He was the first person that seemed to understand her, and one day, he promised to help her. She had wondered how he wanted to do this, but she trusted him.

A few days passed, and Ariana was beginning to worry that he might have forgotten his promise. To her relief, though, Gellert appeared in the garden, offering her his hand and a small vial with a pale lilac liquid in it. He called it Draught of the Living Death and assured her that it would suffice for eternity.

They left together but not before he'd handed her a quill to write her family a letter. Though she knew that they wouldn't understand and would be more than worried about her, she told them that she would be going to a better place and that she loved them.

Gellert brought her to a beautiful forest, and, in the middle of a clearing surrounded by bushes of wild roses, she lay down on a bed of clover. They shared a soft smile before he cast a charm around her, a bubble, and she drank the liquid. It tasted bitter on her tongue, but before she could really shudder because of it, she started to feel giddy. Her head felt like it weighed a thousand tons, and then, her lids fell shut. Slowly, she was gliding away into the darkness, leaving her body, and the world it was from, behind.

OoO

It was as if she was breaking through the surface of water that filled a bathtub. All feelings and sensations came back to her as she arrived, feeling like she had travelled for hours though it probably had only lasted for the fraction of time someone needed to blink.

A smile played around Ariana's lips as she opened her eyes and found herself in the countryside. She was standing in a meadow; a rather harsh wind was blowing, making her dark hair dance around her head, but she liked it. The stormy weather seemed to be her release, and, when it started to rain, it seemed to wash all the traces from the world she'd left behind away.

The wet grass tickled the soles of her bare feet as she started walking, her arms stretched out widely as if she was welcoming the storm and the rain with an embrace. Joy flooded through her as she started running, finally feeling freedom inside of her. Thick raindrops hit her bare arms, and her periwinkle dress fluttered around her legs.

Thunder and lightning started, but it was far behind her, in another life. What lay before her was sunshine, warm rain, and light breezes.

OoO

It took her some time until she finally found out that she was in full control over her dreamworld. She could do whatever she pleased, and the first thing she did was create a forest rather similar to the one she had left her body behind in.

Ariana walked around for a while, listening to the birds singing and the wind softly blowing through the leaves and branches. She deeply inhaled the earthy scent of the forest as she followed her very own path, one that led nowhere because it didn't have to lead anywhere. Travel wasn't necessary; she already was where she wanted to be.

Suddenly, she heard twigs snapping to her left and as she turned, her eyes widened in awe.

A unicorn, tall and majestic, strode towards her, cautiously yet curiously.

In her books, she had read about unicorns countless times, but as she had been a prisoner in her own home, not allowed to go outside, she had never had the opportunity to see one of their kind herself. They were beautiful animals, innocent as she was, peaceful…

Their gazes met, and Ariana smiled as the unicorn stopped right in front of her, its white fur gleaming in the sun that broke through the leaf canopy over their heads. For a moment that seemed to last forever, they just stood there, her blue eyes fixed on the celestial ones of the unicorn.

Then, as if it had given her a sign with a blink, she reached out and carefully touched the unicorn's neck, running her fingers over the silky mane and the soft back. Warm and steady, being pressed close to the animal felt like the safest place in existent.

The unicorn just stood still, its neck bent sideways so it could watch her. It seemed as if it had been waiting for her, for her alone, and Ariana savoured every moment. Acting more on instinct than on knowledge, she placed her hands on the unicorn's back and swung herself up.

Sitting on the back of the calm animal, her fingers curled carefully into the mane, and her legs pressed gently to the warm side of the white, magical creature. She felt something like bliss overcome her.

She didn't know how long the unicorn was carrying her through the forest. It was as if it was showing her its favourite places – a hidden lake surrounded by high stone walls which were covered by ivy, and a waterfall with gurgling water running downhill in gleaming streams. They stopped in a meadow full of wildflowers for some time; the unicorn grazing peacefully while Ariana picked the most beautiful flowers and braided some of them into her hair before doing the same with the mane of her unicorn.

The sun was already starting to set, dipping the forest into a light of gold and red and the shadows became longer as they returned to the place where they had started their little journey.

Farewell wasn't easy, as Ariana had enjoyed the company of the unicorn, but the knowledge that she could return whenever she pleased made it less hard.

OoO

Far away, Ariana's body still lay in the forest, protected by various charms and incantations, hidden away from the world.

Surrounded by the calm atmosphere only a forest and its inhabitants could provide, she slept peacefully, unaware of the seasons changing all around her bed.

While the trees lost their leaves, them withering slowly and being covered by snow that ultimately melted away, something never changed. Gellert came to visit her, not caring that she couldn't hear him when he read to her from the books that were once hers.

He made sure she was safe and that nobody interrupted her slumber. She was his little secret, the innocence he wanted to keep safe from the cruelties of the world.

Her family was desperately searching for her, greatly worried that something bad had happened to her, but he kept silent.

For her, as he would never break the promise he made to her.

OoO

In memory of the lazy summer days she had spent with her brothers in their garden in Godric's Hollow. They had been pretending they were on a holiday by the sea, so Ariana created a beach the next day. Seeing the waves roll softly over the sand and retreat again and hearing their constant rushing, something she had known only from her imagination, she felt more free. Even though her heart ached a little bit, as she missed her brothers, she couldn't help but enjoy it.

The cool water played around her ankles as she danced through the tide, moist sand sticking to her feet. Singing a childhood tune, she splashed the water up, not caring that she wetted her dress in the process. She couldn't remember a time during which she had been this carefree.

There was nothing to worry about, nothing to ponder about.

It was as if the whole world lay at her feet, as it was obeying her wishes and stayed perfectly peaceful at her will.

And as she let the wind whip around her body, it whistling in her ears, she closed her eyes and stretched her arms, pretending to be a gull that was flying above the waves to places that contained more wonders than she could ever imagine.

OoO

As time progressed, Ariana felt like she was growing more and more adventurous.

She went hiking through the highlands that Albus and Aberforth had described to her when they had talked about Hogwarts. Deep green meadows unfolded in front of her wondering eyes and deep lochs hid their secrets away from her in their dark waters. Obeying her wishes, the various animals living in these surroundings didn't hide from her, but showed themselves. She would sit close to them, watching them for a while before continuing her path.

And when the night came, she slept under the universe, the stars keeping guard as she slumbered, free from dreams and kissed awake by the morning dew.

She picnicked under olive trees next to a cobble street leading to Rome and watched fairies and trolls from the old tales her mother had read to her as a child do their magic.

Whatever she did, she never seemed to get bored. There were days where she didn't do much, but boredom was still an unknown factor in her dream world.

If she felt especially lazy, she returned to the forest she had met the unicorn in and walked to the hidden lake, where a wooden boat was waiting for her. Drifting in it from one bank to the other, she would lie on a velvet cushion, listening to the silence or reading a book, one arm lazily hanging in the cool water.

And never did she doubt that she had found what she had been searching for – freedom and light; a world formed by her dreams where no harm would ever happen to her.


End file.
